


Between Constellations and Dreams

by fadetomorrow



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 04:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadetomorrow/pseuds/fadetomorrow
Summary: Jongin goes to bed a member of EXO, but wakes up married to Chanyeol.





	Between Constellations and Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to the mods for running a unique fest! i missed writing this pairing so this was fun. thanks to T for beta-ing and yelling about chankai to me!! ♥
> 
> hope everyone enjoys! :)

It was almost midnight when they finally made it to the hotel. Jongin was dead tired. His sinuses were acting up and he'd barely gotten any sleep on the flight to Hong Kong. Unless he was working and had to put on a professional face, a tired Jongin was cranky and moody.

They were in a meeting room waiting for their manager to come back with room keys. Chanyeol was on the complete other end of the room, but his voice carried straight over, chattering away with Baekhyun and Jongdae. Jongin tugged his beanie down over his eyes and slouched further in the chair, wishing for their manager to hurry up.

They were spread out on two floors. Jongin got off the elevator with Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Chanyeol who were still yapping away. By now it was closer to 1 AM and Jongin just wanted quiet.

A heavy arm landed across Jongin's shoulders and Chanyeol stuck his face in too close.

"Hey, come watch a movie in Baekhyun's room with us."

The headache that had started to form downstairs bloomed in Jongin's temples. He shrugged Chanyeol off. "I just want to go to bed. My head hurts."

"Do you want some painkillers?" Chanyeol said, rummaging around in his bag. Jongin stopped in front of his door and Chanyeol came to a halt next to him. "Is it your sinuses? You sounded kind of congested this morning."

"Hyung, stop," Jongin said, not doing a great job of hiding his irritation. "Go watch your movie." He unlocked his room and dragged his stuff inside. The door shut heavily behind him and he collapsed onto the bed, finally surrounded by silence.

+

The sun was blinding when Jongin opened his eyes. He took a pillow and covered his face, groaning softly as his body and brain slowly started to wake up. He patted around for his phone to check the time but couldn't find it and gave up. If he was late, someone would be banging on his door by now.

It took a moment for him to realize that it wasn't completely quiet. The shower was running, very clearly from his own bathroom and not just filtering in from the neighboring room. Jongin sat up, unsure whether or not he should be worried. Maybe one the guys' shower wasn't working so they borrowed a spare key to come here, but then why wouldn't they just use their manager's room? That would make the most sense, but that meant the alternative was some stranger had broken in, a sasaeng. The spot next to him in bed looked slept in and Jongin's stomach turned. He needed to find his phone and get security up here.

The shower turned off before he could spot it. It had to be a stalker then and they'd hidden it on purpose. Jongin looked down at himself. He was only in his underwear, though didn't remember when he had stripped down. It wouldn't do to dwell on that gap in his memory. He considered escaping like this anyway, knocking on doors and hoping it would be someone he knew on the other side. He should've at least paid attention to which room was Baekhyun's when Chanyeol had asked him to join last night.

Jongin's stomach gave another nauseous flip and when the bathroom door opened, steam escaped. He prepared to make a run for it or bluff that security was on their way. Mostly he was terrified. Their management team had always told them this could happen to get them to be careful with who they talked to or the things they told their friends, but Jongin had always thought it was mostly them scaring them to avoid scandals.

Jongin's heart jumped into his throat when the person stepped out, toweling dry their hair so their face was hidden. It was a man and he looked a couple inches taller than Jongin. But his legs looked familiar and Jongin realized they belonged to Chanyeol just a second before the towel fell away and Chanyeol's face appeared. Relief flooded Jongin's body, but it was short-lived when Chanyeol came closer and bent down, smiling as he mumbled a quiet "good morning" right before pressing a kiss to Jongin's mouth.

Jongin yelled.

+

It took a minute for Jongin to calm down. Chanyeol kept asking what was wrong and had the gall to look confused when Jongin sputtered out that Chanyeol just _kissed him_.

"I always kiss you good morning," Chanyeol said. He was sitting on the edge of the bed still with just a towel around his waist that was getting increasingly loose by the second.

"What are you talking about? Why would you ever kiss me? I didn't even know — hyung, how did you even get into my room? Are you guys playing some prank on me? Was this Baekhyun-hyung's idea?"

Chanyeol frowned and shifted closer, his towel barely covering his lap now. Jongin stared at his own hands. "Are you feeling okay? What's going on? None of what you're saying makes sense."

"None of what _you're_ saying makes sense!" Jongin said, covering his face. "And can you like, put on some pants please?"

The bed shifted when Chanyeol stood up and Jongin messed up his hair in frustration. He watched Chanyeol walk to the other side of the room to grab a pair of shorts from a suitcase. It was then he noticed that there were two suitcases in the room, one of them the one Chanyeol liked to use. It wasn't covered with bag tag stickers though.

Chanyeol pulled on a t-shirt too and came back, sitting in the same spot. He took Jongin's hand, holding it too tight for Jongin's liking, and the spot above the bridge of his nose was wrinkled in concern. "Are you the one playing a prank on me?"

Jongin's head hurt trying to figure out what the hell was going on much less what to say. Chanyeol looked so serious, like he really had no clue why Jongin freaked out, why Jongin was the one confused. "You can tell Baekhyun-hyung it was a genius idea and he can come out now. Is this just because I was rude last night? I'm sorry I was cranky when you were just trying to help." He tried to twist his hand away, but Chanyeol only held on tighter, linking their fingers together.

"What are you talking about? You didn't do anything rude last night and you weren't cranky. We had dinner and we went to this club because you wanted to dance and we had fun. I guess you made fun of me for still dancing like a dork but if I didn't get mad at you saying that on our first date, I'm not going to be mad about it now."

Jongin stared long and hard, really not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Hyung, this joke really isn't funny. I don't care anymore — can you leave now? We have to get to the venue soon."

"You mean the airport."

"Hyung, _stop_." This time, Jongin forced his hand out of Chanyeol's grip. Chanyeol looked — hurt.

"I'm not playing a prank." Chanyeol frowned. "What do you remember about yesterday?"

"What's there to remember? We had a meeting at the company, then flew here, and I got annoyed because it was one in the morning and you wanted to watch a movie in Baekhyun-hyung's room."

Worry flickered in Chanyeol's eyes. He didn't say anything, the silence drawn out to the point where Jongin felt antsy.

"Why are you giving me that look? You were there."

"Jongin," Chanyeol said, his tone quiet and cautious like speaking to a spooked horse. "None of that happened. We've been on vacation for two weeks and we're flying home in a few hours. And Baekhyun's not here, he's in Seoul."

"What are you _talking_ about?" Jongin moved his left hand but froze when the sunlight caught on something. There was a silver ring on his finger, but he didn't like wearing jewelry when he wasn't working. It looked an awful lot like a wedding band. Stomach heavy, he looked over at Chanyeol's hand and saw that he had one too which looked exactly the same. "I said this wasn't funny anymore." He went to twist the ring off, but Chanyeol rushed to stop him.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop acting!" Jongin said, getting angry now.

Chanyeol took Jongin's hands again, which was annoying. He was going to make both Chanyeol and Baekhyun do his laundry for a month for taking a joke this far.

"Just answer one more question, okay?" Chanyeol took a deep breath. "Are you married?"

Jongin's face twisted up in annoyance. "Hyung, I'm seriously going to get mad."

"Just answer. Please?"

Jongin pushed past how weirded out he was by the question on top of the ring they managed to get onto his finger. "Why would I be married?" he snapped. "You know I just broke up with someone. And why do you keep holding my hands!"

Chanyeol let go of him, but it seemed to be mostly out of shock than because Jongin had demanded it. He drew them back into his lap clasped together so tightly that his knuckles were white. He opened his mouth a couple of times, but nothing came out.

Jongin was fed up. He got out of bed and dragged Chanyeol to the door. "Leave," he said, holding it open. Chanyeol didn't move. "Get _out_. What the hell is wrong with you? This isn't fucking funny! Are you seriously going to make me tell on you to our manager?"

Chanyeol looked at him, clueless. Jongin's had moments of frustration in the dance studio where he wanted to scream when he just couldn't get the moves right no matter how hard he tried, and he felt like that now.

"Fine!" Jongin stalked back into the room and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. "If we're late to rehearsal because of this and get yelled at, I'm never talking to you ag— what the fuck is this?"

The background on his phone was a photo of him and Chanyeol that he'd never seen before, that must have been photoshopped because — well it just had to be. He shoved the phone under Chanyeol's face.

"You even faked a photo? What kind of messed up joke is this?"

"It's not fake," said Chanyeol quietly.

"Right, I must have conveniently forgotten about the photoshoot we did where we really leaned into the fan service and actually pretended to be boyfriends and also forgot the part where I made it my own background."

The photo had him and Chanyeol dressed in pale summer suits and Chanyeol's arm was around his waist. He was looking at the floor, smiling big, and Jongin was pressing a kiss to his cheek. Maybe once he stopped being angry, he would take a moment to be impressed at the skill it took to make the picture seem so real.

"It's a real photo. It's from our—" Chanyeol took a step closer and Jongin was taken aback by how deep the worry was on his face. "You don't remember, at all?"

It wasn't unusual for Chanyeol to run a joke into the ground, but this was pushing it even for him. Finally, Jongin allowed the possibility of a different explanation to enter his mind, the possibility that this wasn't a joke because he couldn't deny any longer that Chanyeol's acting was never this good, but even the thought of considering it had Jongin's stomach sinking because if this wasn't fake then…

When Jongin didn't say anything, Chanyeol took the phone from him and he ignored how Chanyeol knew the password, refusing to think about why that would be. When Chanyeol held it out again, Jongin didn't want to take it because in his peripheral he could already see it, more photos that matched the one set as his background. Chanyeol forced the phone into Jongin's hand and his vision swam when he finally looked, scrolling through row after row of people who looked exactly like him and Chanyeol but couldn't possibly be because the ones in the pictures were hugging and dancing together and kissing each other and standing under a white arch gazing at one another with a look that was undeniably—

Jongin threw the phone onto the bed and sat down, knees suddenly weak. He buried his hands in his hair. "What is _happening?_ Where the hell am I? What did you do to me?"

Chanyeol crouched down but didn't touch Jongin. He spoke softly. "You're in Hong Kong. We stopped here for two days after spending a week in Thailand. We took this trip to celebrate our one year anniversary."

At this point, static filled Jongin's ears. He blanked out, but not fast enough to miss Chanyeol's next words.

"Jongin. We're married."

+

Even if a manual existed on what to do if you've found yourself transported into an alternate reality, Jongin wasn't sure it would do him any good.

It was a bit like going through the stages of grief. There was more denial when Chanyeol kept going, telling Jongin he was a veterinarian and they've been together five years and have a dog and a cat and live near Seoul University. After that was anger, accusing Chanyeol of flat out lying, but even if he wanted to believe the photos on his phone were fake, his anger withered when he tried to look up EXO or his own stage name and the internet gave him nothing.

Then the panic settled in. Jongin collapsed into a chair and wrapped his arms around himself, eyes flickering toward Chanyeol who was leaning against the dresser. There was too much evidence that Chanyeol — this Chanyeol who looked exactly the same and spoke exactly the same and had the exact same habit of messing up his hair, but wasn't at all the same Chanyeol who Jongin knew — had been telling the truth. None of this was a prank and somehow, the universe thought it would be fun for Jongin to wake up in an entirely different reality. How did he get here? When could he go home? _Could_ he go home?

The last one nearly had him hyperventilating. Chanyeol poured a glass of water and brought it over, helping Jongin hold it as he drank since his hands were shaking so much.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Jongin said quietly.

Chanyeol shook his head. "I believe you," he said, more serious than Jongin's ever seen the other Chanyeol. "You look like him, but I can tell now you're not my Jongin."

The way Chanyeol said that made Jongin uncomfortable. It was weird anyway thinking about how in this universe, the two of them were together, but mostly it was the intimacy in Chanyeol's voice which had Jongin feeling guilty that he was here instead of the real one.

Chanyeol cleared his throat and looked at his phone. "Our flight is in four hours. I realize the timing isn't the best, but you'll probably feel a little better if you were in Seoul."

Jongin nodded, hesitating briefly before he went over to his suitcase. He stared at the contents blankly before Chanyeol came over and took out a pair of pants and a button-up.

"You — he was going to wear this. It's his last clean outfit."

Jongin took them with a quiet thanks and slipped into the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror and stumbled a little in shock. His hair was black, but the all natural kind, not the shade the stylists always used. He couldn't remember the last time his hair hadn't been dyed and ran his fingers through it, marveling at how soft it was instead of the usual straw-like mess. He showered quickly and dressed and when he went back out, Chanyeol was packing up the last items in the room for both of them.

It was quiet and awkward between them when they left the hotel and during the taxi ride to the airport. Jongin still caught Chanyeol looking at him when he thought Jongin wasn't paying attention, but Chanyeol was the only thing Jongin could pay attention to.

When they checked their luggage, Jongin noticed Chanyeol already had his passport. While they stood in line waiting to pass through security, he said to him, "Are you usually in charge of carrying both passports?"

Chanyeol's eyebrows scrunched together, but only briefly. "He misplaces his a lot."

Jongin didn't know if it would mean anything, or maybe it'd actually make things more awkward, but he said, "Me too," with a small smile and felt an undeniable rush of relief when Chanyeol smiled back.

The weirdest thing was being able to walk through the airport with Chanyeol and not have anyone pay attention to them. It took a good ten minutes before he really accepted it, but then he was quick to soak it all in, not knowing if he'd ever experience this again. It was something most of them regretted, being so focused when they were training on the thought of debut and becoming famous that they didn't take the time to appreciate the peace anonymity brought.

He told Chanyeol so when they sat down in the food court with their late breakfast, early lunch, having an hour before their flight boarded.

"You're famous where you're from?" Chanyeol said and Jongin realized he'd learned about the Jongin from here, but didn't say anything about himself.

"We're both famous," Jongin said, which he could tell caught Chanyeol by surprise. "We're in a group together. There were 12 of us, but some stuff happened along the way and now there's just 9, though things have been complicated with Lay-hyung for a few years too."

"How famous exactly?"

Jongin glanced around. "We wouldn't be able to eat in the open like this. We need security just to get in and out of the airport."

"That sounds stressful."

Poking at his noodles, Jongin nodded. "It's hard sometimes, but I'm always glad I debuted with a group so it's not so lonely. I think my company might ask me to go solo soon, but I don't know if I can do that. Handle the pressure and attention by myself."

"I'm sure you'd do fine."

Jongin shrugged. "No one's asked me yet, so I don't think about it."

They finished eating in silence and Jongin couldn't recall anytime he'd been around a Chanyeol this quiet. He didn't know if it was because of their situation or in this world, this was how Chanyeol was. It was unsettling though, to not have Chanyeol's voice and laughter booming off all corners of the room. At home he found it annoying sometimes, but now, in this off-kilter reality where everything was the same but nothing was familiar, he strangely missed it.

+

The flight had been a good reason to not have to converse, but once they reached Chanyeol's home, unease had settled in again. They were both doing their best to deal with this, but it was impossible for Jongin not to feel like he was trespassing somewhere he didn't belong. It didn't help that he caught the hesitation in Chanyeol's hands before he opened the door.

"Home sweet home," Chanyeol said with a forced smile.

The apartment wasn't big, but definitely enough for two people. Jongin stood in the middle of the living room and looked around, purposely not allowing his eyes to linger on the photos along the walls that had his own face staring back.

"You said you had pets?" Jongin said, needing to fill the air with something.

Chanyeol came in from the kitchen with two glasses of water, like he was hosting a guest. "Hm? Oh, they're with our friends right now. Well. You said you have a Baekhyun too."

Jongin nodded and sat on the couch. He looked around and counted the three doors, one for the bathroom, one which looked like a small office, which left the last as the bedroom. "He's in our group too."

Chanyeol laughed, settling into the spot next to Jongin. "Baekhyun? Famous?"

Jongin smiled a little, feeling like a world where Baekhyun wasn't famous didn't seem right. "What does he do here?"

"He teaches kindergarten. His boyfriend is the famous one, has a cooking show on one of the cable channels."

The mention of cooking caught Jongin's attention. He looked at Chanyeol curiously. "Kyungsoo-hyung?"

Chanyeol stared at him. "You even know Kyungsoo?"

"I might know a lot more people than you think," Jongin said, tucking his hands under his knees and drawing his shoulders up. He caught Chanyeol frowning out the corner of his eye. "What?"

"Nothing," Chanyeol said, shaking his head. "You just — looked like him, for a second."

Jongin took a breath, but ended up not saying anything. This was all weird and terrifying and he didn't want to think about it anymore, would rather pretend it was just a dream and if he just focused hard enough he'd be back in that Hong Kong hotel, opening the door to Chanyeol shuffling into the hall from his own room. He'd already tried wishing as hard as he could on the flight here and nothing happened, so pretending was the next best thing.

"Sorry," Chanyeol said, offering a smile. "This is probably harder for you."

Jongin laughed a little. "Being transported to another universe? Happens to me all the time." He scratched the back of his head and ended up looking directly at a photo in the side table. It was almost like a family portrait, Chanyeol and Jongin with their pets in their arms, but they were outside at a park, the photo taken by a friend or family. He took it for a closer look, feeling an odd detachment even though the faces were familiar. This wasn't him and he had no memory of it. It might as well have been something a fan edited together.

"Kyungsoo took that a few months ago. Our dog's name is Honey and our cat is Dumpling."

"You named your cat Dumpling?"

Chanyeol laughed and pointed at the photo. "He looks like one. It's mostly my fault. Jongin keeps trying to put him on a diet, but I have terrible discipline and keep feeding him snacks whenever I'm at home."

"I've never had a cat."

"We didn't mean to get one. Jongin wanted like, three dogs, but then Dumpling was brought in to his clinic as a stray kitten. He'd been covered in fleas and had a chest infection, so Jongin took him home and nursed him back to health. Then we just ended up not giving him back. He's a menace and loves knocking your stuff off the coffee table, but he's a good cuddler."

Jongin put the photo back on the table. It was both reassuring and unsettling how some things were the same here, yet so different. Like the fact that everyone in EXO still knew each other here, but were dating, or married in his case.

"Have you and Jongin um," Jongin said, feeling weird saying his own name, "always liked guys?"

If Chanyeol was offended, he didn't show it. "More or less," he said, scratching his chin. "It was Baekhyun and Kyungsoo who introduced us. I had just graduated and Jongin was finishing up his last year of university. Are you saying where you're from it's not like that?"

"I've only dated girls," Jongin said, thinking. "And Chanyeol-hyung has only talked about girls, at least around me."

"Weird," Chanyeol said and Jongin was pretty sure he was teasing. "Can't say I'm not bummed by the fact the I can no longer be cheesy and tell Jongin we're together in every universe."

Briefly, Jongin imagined thinking of Chanyeol in that way and made a face at how ridiculous it seemed. The guy part he didn't much care about. That was something all of them had gotten over after being in the idol industry for so long. But even though he and Chanyeol had grown closer the past couple of years, he definitely thought of Chanyeol as a friend and a fun hyung, and the image of them being more than that seemed out of touch.

Chanyeol braced his hands on his thighs to stand up. "Are you hungry? We cleared out a lot of our fridge before we left, but there's ramyeon."

"Do you have the non-spicy kind?"

Chanyeol laughed and made his way to the kitchen. "Maybe you are just like him."

Jongin followed him even though making ramyeon didn't require any assistance, but he wanted to shake off some of the feeling that he was intruding on someone else's space. "Do you really say that kind of stuff to him?" he said while they waited for the water to boil. "About being together in all universes?"

"Why? Does it make you cringe?"

Jongin wrinkled his nose. "Don't tell me it works on him."

"He yells at me every time I say something cheesy. But I don't know. He married me, so maybe it did work a little."

Jongin thought about his own Chanyeol saying such cringe worthy things but it felt so out of character. He remembered the last fan meet and how Chanyeol all but shriveled up at having to act out scenes from a drama. Jongin hated such things too, but even he managed better, amused at the time at Chanyeol's discomfort.

"You can get married here?"

"Ah, no." Chanyeol leaned against the counter. "Not legally. We just had our own thing last year with friends and family. It'd be nice to have it on paper one day."

"It looked nice," Jongin said, now overly aware of the ring on his finger. "The photos when I wasn't freaking out this morning."

Chanyeol smiled and turned back to the stove. "Yeah, it was a good day," he said, something flickering across his face too quick for Jongin to catch. He took a deep breath and smiled too smoothly for it to be real. "Do you want an egg in yours?"

Jongin could recognize when a conversation was over.

+

Jongin tried his best, but couldn't hide his yawns after eating. The sun was still out, though just barely, only the faintest orange glow clinging to the horizon.

"It's been a long day," said Chanyeol, when he caught Jongin with a hand over his mouth. He hesitated briefly, then said as he cleared the table, "You can take the bedroom. I'll grab the couch."

Jongin shook his head quickly. "No, I'll take the couch," he said. "I'd feel too uncomfortable sleeping in your guys' room."

Chanyeol didn't argue, which Jongin was thankful for. He figured Chanyeol hadn't wanted him to sleep in the bed either and he understood. Chanyeol got him situated with blankets and pajamas which Jongin changed into in the bathroom after he washed up. He usually hated sleeping in anything but his underwear, but doing that in someone else's home didn't seem right. When he came out, Chanyeol was standing in the doorway of the bedroom and gave Jongin a small wave, disappearing behind the closed door after.

The quiet of the apartment was broken by voices in the hall, people coming home late from work or after school studies, and the occasional honk of a car outside. Jongin sprawled out on the couch, suddenly no longer tired. Their dorms were outside Seoul, closer to the airport, and had better soundproofing just due to necessity. This apartment reminded him of his home growing up, just another family living in the heart of the city.

If all it took was a single night's sleep to bring him here, it was impossible for Jongin not to hope that that the same thing would bring him back. Chanyeol was probably wishing for the same in the other room.

He'd joked about it earlier when Chanyeol commented about how hard this was for him, but now that he was alone with just his thoughts, Jongin felt like Chanyeol was the one who was suffering more.

Maybe there was no point in arguing who had it worse, but waking up to someone you're married to suddenly claiming they were from another reality couldn't have been easy to swallow. The same way Jongin was terrified about not having a way home, Chanyeol would be terrified he'd never see his husband again and that bothered Jongin the most. Even though this Chanyeol wasn't the Chanyeol he knew, there was still a familiarity to him and for Jongin that served as a comfort. Jongin was fairly certain his familiarity to the Jongin who belonged to this world wasn't as welcome.

Exhaustion eventually forced his thoughts to stop. He closed his eyes and tucked the blanket underneath his chin and thought of home.

+

Jongin knew before he even opened his eyes that he hadn't gone anywhere. His back ached from being curled up on the couch the whole night and his mouth was dry and he could probably sleep longer, but he heard movement in the kitchen. He sat up and dragged his hand through his hair a few times, making his messy bedhead even messier. When Chanyeol appeared, he purposely avoided eye contact, not wanting to see the disappointment on Chanyeol's face that it was still him, and quietly accepted a cup from him, but frowned when he looked down and sniffed at it.

"Is something wrong?" Chanyeol sat at the other end of the couch, which was nice of him when he could've taken the chair off to the side.

"No. Sorry. I just, don't really like coffee."

"Oh. What do you like?"

"The really sugary drinks."

It surprised Jongin when Chanyeol burst out laughing. "Jongin hates sweet things."

"That's terrible."

Chanyeol took Jongin's cup and traded it for his own. "Yuja tea. Maybe you'll like that better."

Jongin smiled in thanks and nodded, taking a careful sip.

"It's good to know you two are actually different in some ways."

"You're handling it well," Jongin said, without meaning to, but his brain wasn't fully awake yet and his voice softened for the rest. "Me not being him."

Chanyeol stared at his coffee, pensive. "I could say the same for you, waking up in a different world and finding out you're married."

"I'm in entertainment," Jongin said with a dry smile. "There are much worse things I've seen."

"I stayed up a long time thinking," Chanyeol said, looking over at Jongin. "I have to believe you're here for a reason. Maybe it's so I can help you or you're here to help me. Either way, something like this isn't just a mistake."

"You sound a lot wiser than the Chanyeol I know."

Chanyeol laughed quietly and sat back. "I have no clue what I'm doing. This existential stuff is way out of my comfort zone."

Jongin smiled. "Well. It's working. I feel a lot better about it."

They sat in silence for a while and Chanyeol took Jongin's cup when he was done. Jongin ducked off to the bathroom while Chanyeol cleaned up, but faltered when he went to brush his teeth. None of this stuff was actually his and parallel Jongin or not, he didn't want to put someone else's toothbrush in his mouth.

He ventured back out where Chanyeol was still in the kitchen, typing something on his phone while he stood in front of the open fridge.

"Um, sorry," Jongin said, tugging his sleeves down. "Do you have a spare toothbrush?"

Chanyeol's mouth made a small 'oh' then scrunched his face up. "We'll have to buy you one and anything else you need. We have no food, so I have to get groceries anyway." He waved his phone in the air and Jongin saw it was a shopping list.

"Thanks," Jongin said, then looked down at his pajamas. "What should I wear?"

Chanyeol closed the fridge and seemed to hesitate for a second, then grabbed Jongin's wrist and guided him to the bedroom. Jongin tried not to be nosy, but couldn't help looking around. It wasn't very big, just large enough to fit a bed for two, a nightstand, and along one wall was the closet. Just a normal bedroom. Jongin wasn't sure what he was expecting.

"This is his side," Chanyeol said, opening a set of doors on the right. It was tidy for the most part, though there was a small pile of clothes on one of the shelves, mostly shirts which he imagined the other Jongin putting on and changing his mind, but too lazy to hang back up. "You can pick whatever you like. Don't worry about asking permission."

Jongin smiled in thanks and Chanyeol left him alone to find an outfit. He didn't think too much about it and settled on a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He reminded himself that here he was just a normal, average guy and that meant he could wear whatever he wanted and not care how he looked. The public wasn't waiting to judge his fashion or to take hundreds of photos which would live forever on the internet.

It was a good feeling and he was excited to go out and have absolutely no one pay attention to him. Maybe he would see if Chanyeol was willing to go to one of the popular neighborhoods. Neither of them knew why he was here, but Jongin might as well start doing things just to see what would happen.

"We usually stay in on weekends, but since there's no food in the house, we can eat out," Chanyeol said when Jongin reappeared. "Then we can grab groceries on the way back, if that's okay with you?"

Jongin nodded and wrung his hands together. "Can we, um, go somewhere with a lot of people? I mean, not like, crowded, just. Somewhere I wouldn't go back home."

Chanyeol seemed confused at the request at first, but then smiled and said, "I think I can find a place. Do you want to take the metro too?"

Jongin said yes without hesitation.

Before they left, while Jongin slipped on a pair of sneakers, more careful with them than he would've been with his own, he stood up to find Chanyeol holding out a jacket for him to put on.

"It's still a bit chilly out," Chanyeol said. "Don't want to send you back with a cold."

Jongin shrugged it on and knew he was being ridiculous, but something small did a tiny little flip in his chest at the gesture. He wrote it off quickly as a result of just knowing Jongin and Chanyeol being married in this world, that his head was doing weird things trying to deal with the mental shock.

It was on the brisk side when they stepped out, but the sun was shining and there was barely a cloud in sight. They walked to the nearest station and Jongin spent the whole time marveling at how not a single person bothered to pay him any attention. The best moment was when he passed a group of school girls and there was nothing, not a single reaction. It was amazing.

On the subway, Jongin stood next to Chanyeol and couldn't stop smiling. He probably looked ridiculous, but Chanyeol smiled back when they made eye contact, amused rather than embarrassed.

"What do you like to eat?" Chanyeol said, when they emerged onto the street again. Around them families and groups of friends walking around, all spending the day out before the work week started. "This neighborhood has mostly everything."

"Chicken," Jongin said automatically.

Chanyeol laughed quietly. "Okay. We can do that."

They found a restaurant which served spicy chicken slathered with cheese on top, which Jongin in the other world would never touch in order to maintain his diet, but here? Jongin was going to eat everything he could. They sweated their way through lunch, but Jongin couldn't have been happier even as his mouth suffered.

"How did you two start dating?" Jongin said, taking a break to let some feeling return to his lips. "You said Baekhyun and Kyungsoo-hyung introduced you?"

Chanyeol nodded as he sucked in air through his teeth. "I was friends with Baekhyun first and he and Kyungsoo had grown up as neighbors. They sort of played matchmaker, I guess, but it was a disaster at first. Jongin didn't find me impressive."

"Why?"

"For good reasons," Chanyeol said, laughing. "I was loud and obnoxious and still very selfish. I mean, I'm still loud and obnoxious sometimes, but I guess I've toned it down enough that he can tolerate it. I asked him out because I thought he was good-looking and he didn't really take that as the compliment I meant it to be. In hindsight, he was right and I was a shallow asshole."

"So how'd you get from that to being married?"

Chanyeol thought about it for a moment, then threw his hands up with a small shrug. "Honestly, I have no clue. When he turned me down the first time, I got pretty sulky about it and we ignored each other for a while. Or, he ignored me, but I was your typical dude who held a grudge because his pride got bruised. It was my dog who changed things. He got sick one night and all the vets were closed and I was freaking out. I knew he was studying to be one and he was the only option I had, so I got his number from Kyungsoo and basically begged him to come over."

"I assume he did and he saved your dog."

Chanyeol smiled and nodded. "Turned out Toben had eaten something out of the garbage that he shouldn't have. Jongin took care of him, but spent most of the night calming me down. I'm embarrassed every time I think about how much I panicked, but he didn't make fun of me or tell me I was overreacting. He made tea for me and stayed the night so he could watch over Toben just in case and after that, I just, wanted to be with him. I still thought he was really good-looking, but I liked him for a lot of other reasons after that."

Guilt tugged at Jongin as he listened to Chanyeol, the love and adoration he had for his Jongin so obvious. He knew he didn't have any reason to be, that he hadn't asked for this more than they had, but it still didn't erase the fact that Jongin was here and the other one wasn't.

"We should figure out how to get me home soon, then," Jongin said quietly. "So you don't miss him too much." Though he was pretty sure Chanyeol already was.

They got coffee after, or Chanyeol did while Jongin ordered some sugary strawberry monstrosity. Since it was nice out, they walked for a while to the station which would get them to the grocery store near Chanyeol's apartment without having to transfer.

"Do you think you two just switched places?" Chanyeol said.

"I guess that's possible," Jongin said, tilting his head. "That must be scary for him though, waking up alone and then finding out Chanyeol isn't the same one he's married to."

"Jongin can handle a lot," Chanyeol said, sighing. "He's probably having more fun being young again."

"Young?"

Chanyeol glanced at him. "Aren't most idols in their early twenties?"

"Wait, how old are you?" Jongin stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, making for an awkward moment when a couple nearly collided with them. He didn't even apologize, concerned about more important things. "How old am I?"

Chanyeol stared, then huffed out a laugh. "I'm 32. You turned 30 this year."

Jongin's eyes widened. "I'm _30_?"

Chanyeol looked around at some of the people who overheard and were, understandably, looking at them oddly. "You say that like 30 is the new 50."

"No, I mean, it's just," Jongin said, pressing his hand to his forehead as he processed this new information, which somehow was more shocking than him crossing parallel universes. "Two days ago I was 25."

"Wow. Jongin and I started dating when he was 25." Chanyeol placed his hand on Jongin's elbow and made them resume walking.

"Oh my god, I'm 30."

"I'm going to be honest, Jongin wasn't the most thrilled about turning 30, but he took it a bit better than this."

"Yeah, well, he got to have the 26 to 29 years too!"

"You'll get those years when you go back," Chanyeol said, sidestepping to toss his empty cup in the trash. "If it's such a big deal, how come you didn't notice I looked older?"

"I was distracted, obviously," Jongin sputtered.

Chanyeol hummed. "Right, by my devilish good looks. Understandable."

That remark sounded so much like what his Chanyeol would say that Jongin stumbled again and nearly dropped his drink. He mouth hung open slightly as he stared at Chanyeol, who kept a straight face for a second at best before bursting into laughter.

"You're just like him," Jongin mumbled, sucking hard on his straw and giving himself brain freeze.

"I'm back to thinking you are too with that sulking," Chanyeol said, steering Jongin around the corner to where the metro entrance was. "Come on, you old man."

Jongin's squawk of indignation was lost in the crowd.

+

It was mid-afternoon by the time they returned, bags of groceries between the two of them. Jongin didn't know where anything went, but could listen to Chanyeol's directions well enough. They had just finished when the doorbell rang and Chanyeol stared at the intercom for a moment before going over to look at the video feed.

"Oh, I totally forgot," Chanyeol said.

A tinny voice replied, "You forgot we were coming over?"

Jongin perked up at the familiar voice and peeked over Chanyeol's shoulder to see Kyungsoo's face on the tiny screen. He looked, well, exactly, exactly the same. Jongin laughed a little, completely unsurprised.

"Are you going to let us in? Your cat won't stop crying."

"Yeah, come on up," Chanyeol said, pressing the buzzer to unlock the front door. He turned to Jongin after, looking a little worried. "Will it be okay? Meeting them?"

Jongin shrugged. "Won't it be worse if you made them leave?"

He was nervous, though, when Chanyeol answered the door and alternate universe Kyungsoo and Baekhyun strode in. But what really had his palms sweating was the sight of Chanyeol's pets who Jongin was pretty sure would know immediately he was an intruder.

"Hi, Honey!" Chanyeol cooed, crouching down to pet an overly excited long-haired dachshund. "Did you miss us? Did you have fun with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo?" Honey barked a few times before being shushed by Chanyeol. "Go say hi to Jongin."

Jongin startled a bit like he forgot he was there and forced a smile, leaning down to follow Chanyeol's steps. He was fully prepared to do his best at pretending like this wasn't the first time meeting this dog, but he didn't have to. Honey jumped into his arms and started licking his face and Jongin laughed, petting her aggressively. "Hi, sweetheart."

When Honey finally calmed down enough, Jongin looked over to see Chanyeol smiling at him. In his arms was their cat, but it didn't seem as happy to see him and after a moment, even hissed at him.

"Dumpling! What's the matter with you?"

"What just happened?" Baekhyun said, staring between Jongin and the cat. "Did Dumpling just, hiss at him? I thought he'd be fighting Honey for cuddle room."

Jongin didn't know what to say and hugged Honey closer as a shield. He didn't think he was imagining it when Dumpling kept glaring at him.

"We went out earlier," Chanyeol said, trying to get Dumpling's attention. "Maybe Jongin picked up something that smells off to him."

"Oh, did you buy beer?" Baekhyun said, inviting himself in and heading for the fridge. "Kyungsoo, do you want one?"

"You guys are staying?" Chanyeol said, following him. He set Dumpling down, who stared at him, then at Jongin, before slinking off to the living room.

"Yeah? We're your friends, not pet babysitters you hired off the internet. You've been gone two weeks, we want to hear about it. Unless you two spent the entire two weeks screwing each other's brains out."

Chanyeol glanced at Jongin, but wasn't stealthy enough.

"What's going on?" Kyungsoo said, looking between the two of them. "Why do you look so guilty?"

"Oh my god, did you really spend an entire two weeks having sex?" Baekhyun's face was a mix of horrified and disgusted and impressed.

"No!" Chanyeol looked over again, but Jongin wasn't helpful, hiding his face in Honey's scruff. He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not sure you'd believe it if we told you."

"You sound way too serious," Baekhyun said, beer frozen halfway to his mouth. "Like, someone died kind of serious."

"No one died," Chanyeol said.

Baekhyun scrutinized them further. "Did you two have a fight? Did you fight on your anniversary trip? Guys, come on."

"No," Chanyeol said emphatically.

"Then what's with the awkward vibe between you two? Why hasn't Jongin looked us in the eye once?"

"He's not himself," Chanyeol said, and Jongin nearly laughed at the understatement.

"What does that mean?" Kyungsoo said and Jongin really couldn't handle it anymore.

"Are we telling them or not telling them?" said Jongin, his sudden outburst scaring Honey who yelped and squirmed in his arms until he let her down. She walked across Chanyeol's feet and into the living room too, heading straight for her bed near the balcony door. "Sorry, I just — you're making me more nervous."

"Can _someone_ just spit it out?" Baekhyun said. "You're making my head hurt with all this vagueness."

Chanyeol took a deep breath. "Jongin switched places with another Jongin from an alternate universe."

There was silence. Chanyeol gave Jongin a look as if he thought that went well but Jongin stared back at him pointedly to make sure he knew that was a terrible way of breaking the news. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo seemed stunned, but for reasons unknown.

"You said words, but none of them made sense," Baekhyun said. Kyungsoo frowned. "Did you two catch some fever? Are you delirious?"

"We're fine," Jongin said, sighing. "Chanyeol-hyung is telling the truth. I'm not the Jongin you know. Where I'm from, I'm not married to Chanyeol. We're not even dating, we just work together."

There was more silence and then Kyungsoo pivoted toward the fridge and pulled out a bottle of soju. "I'm going to go sit down," he said and shuffled past them to take a heavy seat at the dining table.

"Wait, you believe us?" Chanyeol said, taking the seat across from him. Jongin stayed with Baekhyun by the kitchen counter.

"I don't want to," Kyungsoo said, glancing at Jongin briefly. "But Jongin isn't the type to play this kind of prank. Which means he's telling the truth. Which means you two are serious when you say that this Jongin isn't the real one. Which means I need a lot of alcohol before we talk more."

"I don't believe you and this is a really poor joke," Baekhyun said, stepping closer to Jongin and holding his gaze. "If you want to trick us, maybe pick something that could actually happen."

"It's not a joke," Jongin said, leaning away.

"Prove it," Baekhyun said, shrugging and sipping his beer. "If you're not the real Jongin."

Jongin tried to think of what he could do, but was at a loss. Usually in movies or shows, the imposter was trying to trick others into passing, not to prove they were a fake. "What do you want me to do?"

"You must have a backstory. Just answer my questions."

"Okay."

"What do you do where you're from?"

"I'm in an idol group called EXO. My stage name is Kai. You guys are in it too. You and Chanyeol-hyung go by your real names, but Kyungsoo-hyung goes by D.O."

"Like, my last name, just spelled out?" Kyungsoo said, a little horrified.

"I haven't even told you about our superpower concept."

"When did you debut?"

"April 8, 2012."

Baekhyun frowned. "You debuted that late?"

"I was 18."

"You were born in '89."

"He's actually 25," Chanyeol said, unhelpful.

"Now we're adding age regression to this story?" Baekhyun said, eyes slightly wild as he stared between Chanyeol and Jongin. "What the hell is happening?"

Jongin buried his face in his hands. "This was a terrible idea. You're right, it's a joke. Ha ha! There was a stray cat on the street and I pet it and that's why my cat hates me."

"You handle other animals all the time at your job and your cat never hates you then," Kyungsoo said. The soju was still unopened in front of him.

"Honestly, Dumpling hissing at you is probably the biggest evidence in your favor," said Baekhyun, tipping his beer in Jongin's direction.

"What did I give you for your 18th birthday?" Kyungsoo said. Jongin wondered if this version of Kyungsoo actually wore contacts the way he was supposed to or didn't have vision problems because he didn't glare at him at all.

"I don't know," Jongin said. "A balloon animal."

"He could be lying," Baekhyun said to Kyungsoo, who shrugged.

"I believe them. This is absolutely ridiculous and I wish I were dreaming, but I believe them."

"What?"

Kyungsoo sighed. "Their cat won't go near him and neither will Chanyeol."

Laying it out so plain hit Jongin harshly. He and Chanyeol made eye contact and he could see a brief flicker of guilt, though he didn't know why it mattered. Of course Chanyeol wouldn't stay close to someone he wasn't married to. But the way Kyungsoo said it made it seem like Chanyeol didn't even want to touch him and maybe that was true, but Chanyeol hadn't made it seem that way in the morning when he said all those things about how there had to be a reason why Jongin was here.

"Maybe start at the beginning?" Kyungsoo said to Chanyeol.

"Most of the trip was fine," Chanyeol said, glancing up at Jongin. "It was the last day, when we flew back. He woke up and didn't know why I was there. He thought I was playing a prank on him and that I'd planned it with Baekhyun. It took me a bit, but I could tell that it wasn't him."

"So you just accepted his story that he's from a parallel universe where he's an idol and young still," said Baekhyun, going over to Kyungsoo and peering down at him. "And you're believing it too? Instead of, I don't know, bringing him to the hospital to get his head checked out?"

"He doesn't have any memories of this life and has all the memories of another. You think that's just because we danced too hard the night before we left?"

Baekhyun frowned. "Well. Still. I feel weird that I'm the only one in this room not automatically concluding that the answer must be traveling through space-time. Me. The person who asked Kyungsoo yesterday if he was absolutely sure that penguins couldn't fly."

"They don't," said Chanyeol.

"Honestly, you people watch one season of Planet Earth and you all think you're experts."

Jongin didn't know what was happening. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun started a heated discussion — not their first, it was clear — about flightless birds everyone knew about and Jongin took the opportunity to walk away. He went over to the couch, though hesitated when he saw Dumpling tucked in one corner, following him as soon as he was within sight. Still, he took the other end and leaned down to pet Honey who was already snoozing under the late afternoon sun.

A couple minutes later, the seat dipped next to him and he saw out the corner of his eye Chanyeol's familiar long legs. "You okay?" he said and Jongin thought about how his Chanyeol would have sat closer and put his hand on Jongin's knee.

"I'm fine," Jongin said, smiling slightly. "I forgot for a little while how wild this all is."

"Sorry about those two and for blurting it out without asking you."

Jongin shrugged. "They're your friends. If they're anything like the ones I know, I get it." Dumpling stalked over slowly and settled himself into Chanyeol's lap, as if keeping guard. "He knows."

"He's always been very protective of Jongin," Chanyeol said, petting the black and white cat slowly. "When Jongin first brought him home, he refused to let Dumpling out of his sight, even slept with the tiny thing curled up against his chest. They have a special bond. It actually took a while for him to trust me."

"What made him change his mind?"

"Jongin taught him I was family," Chanyeol said, then held out his hand. "Here."

Jongin stared at it for a moment, then reached out his own for Chanyeol to take and bring closer. Dumpling grew tense, but Chanyeol shushed him calmly, still petting him with his other hand.

"This Jongin is family too," Chanyeol said, holding Jongin's hand still until Dumpling stretched his head out to sniff it.

It was the first time Chanyeol had touched him directly since they left the hotel in Hong Kong, when Chanyeol still didn't know his husband's body had been taken over by a doppelganger. Jongin wasn't sure whether to look at the cat or at Chanyeol, but knew that something in him was relieved that Chanyeol didn't resent his presence.

"Try petting him now," Chanyeol said when Dumpling finally sat back again, a bit more relaxed. He let go of Jongin's hand.

Jongin gently stroked his fingers over Dumpling's head and smiled a little when his ears flicked back and forth. He stared off across the room as if to make a point about ignoring Jongin, but Jongin knew tepid acceptance when he saw it.

Jongin kept petting him and eventually Dumpling relaxed enough to lie across Chanyeol's lap, paws tucked underneath himself, and his eyes grew heavy when Jongin scratched under his chin. He was pretty cute when he wasn't hissing at Jongin.

"We're going to leave."

They both looked up to find Baekhyun and Kyungsoo standing a few feet away. Baekhyun looked awkward while Kyungsoo was unreadable. Jongin took his hand back and tucked both of them under his legs.

"Okay, yeah," Chanyeol said, nudging Dumpling off his lap, which earned him a long, sulky meow. He stood up and walked the two to the door. "Thanks for watching the kids while we were gone."

Whatever was said next Jongin couldn't hear, their voices suddenly hushed. He assumed they were talking about him, but couldn't be bothered to care. He expected it anyway.

The door opened and closed and Chanyeol came back. He had one of those forced smiles on his face. Jongin wanted to ask, but didn't think Chanyeol was in a mood to confess, so he played along.

"I'll start dinner," said Chanyeol, pointing toward the kitchen.

Jongin nodded and thought about offering to help, but Chanyeol was already pulling out ingredients and pots and pans. Next to him, Dumpling yawned and stretched his front paws out, pressing them against Jongin's thigh. He thought about Chanyeol's words, calling him family too, and wondered if the weird pressure in his chest was a sign he was one step closer to going home.

+

The next couple of days passed slowly. They realized Jongin couldn't go into work, that he was completely ill-equipped to be seeing any patients and Chanyeol helped him call in sick for the week, claiming he'd caught a bad stomach bug overseas. Chanyeol still went into work though, which left Jongin alone in the apartment for almost the entire day. He discovered that Chanyeol left by eight and didn't come home until after the sun had set.

He felt even worse when he realized on Monday that he had little cooking skills, which meant Chanyeol still had to make dinner when he came home after being in the office for over ten hours. Even if Jongin offered to have food delivered, he'd be using Chanyeol's money. Chanyeol didn't complain though and at least accepted Jongin's offer to help slice mushrooms and tofu to make stew while he sliced up some pork belly. He hadn't even bothered to change out of his work clothes except to take his jacket and tie off, but otherwise just had his sleeves rolled up and the top buttons of his shirt open.

As they worked quietly side by side, Jongin kept looking over and decided there was something nice about the domestic scene they made. He thought if what Chanyeol had shown the other Jongin years ago was anything close to this, he understood why Jongin would have eventually given in.

As soon as Jongin thought it though, he froze, thrown off by it. He'd seen his own Chanyeol in plenty of stereotypically attractive situations, even if they were artificially created, but had never thought it was nice in the way where he wanted to see more of it. He wondered if it was a side effect of inhabiting someone else's body when that someone was married to that person.

"Did you do anything fun today?" Chanyeol said once the stew was simmering away on the stove. He had a beer in hand and had offered Jongin one too, but he had turned it down confessing he didn't like the taste of alcohol in addition to coffee.

Jongin shrugged. "Watched some TV. Bonded more with the cat." Dumpling was still cautious around him, but allowed a few pets during his afternoon nap. He also spent more time looking through the photos on other Jongin's phone, still fascinated by seeing his own face in scenes he had no memory of. "Took Honey for a walk and had to stop her from eating a worm."

Chanyeol smiled. "Yeah, that's her bad habit."

"I um," Jongin said, unsure how Chanyeol would react. "The photos of your wedding. I hope you don't mind that I looked at them again. Or, I hope the other Jongin doesn't mind that I snooped. I was just curious, what his life's been like."

Chanyeol shook his head. "You're the same person, technically. I don't think normal rules apply here."

"It just made me wonder if my life could've been like his, if I never auditioned."

"Maybe. Is that something you think about a lot? If you had made different choices?"

"Not really. Performing and becoming famous was what I wanted ever since I was 12. I've never thought about anything else because thinking about what ifs would mean I didn't want it enough."

Chanyeol frowned. "That kind of pressure seems a bit harsh for a kid to put on himself."

Jongin shrugged. "It was how things were, just something the company would tell us to help weed out who wasn't serious about debuting."

"Do you have any regrets?"

"No. I think I'd do the same thing if I had a second chance." He knew he belonged on the stage and wouldn't know how to function anywhere else. Being here and having it be obvious he was useless at day to day tasks cemented that. "What about you?"

Chanyeol shrugged one shoulder. "I don't think an office job is anyone's goal. But if I did things again, I don't think I'd make different choices, if only because I don't know if a different life would have meant me not being with Jongin and that's not something I'd want to find out."

"I was jealous," Jongin said after a couple seconds. "When I looked at the wedding photos. I don't think I've ever been as happy as the Jongin I saw in them. Not when I debuted or when we won our first award."

"I was lucky," said Chanyeol, smiling. "I am lucky. He proposed to me, you know. It was the most unromantic thing because he just blurted it out since he thought I was taking too long to ask."

"Were you?"

"I didn't even know he wanted it," said Chanyeol. "Like I said, we can't get married by law so it never even crossed my mind that he'd still want to go through the motions."

"If you were a good boyfriend, you would've known."

Chanyeol pointed at him. "That's exactly what he said." He sighed. "I got a lot of slack for that one, even though I said yes."

Jongin rubbed his wrist absently. "Am I a lot like him?" He wasn't sure if that was an appropriate question to ask, feeling like it might be something Chanyeol wouldn't want to think about. But Chanyeol considered him calmly.

"You're a lot like him when we first started dating," said Chanyeol. "He made sure I knew that until he finished school, I would come second."

Jongin thought about himself and how all of his relationships, whether or not the public found out about them, had ended because he cared more about his work than maintaining a relationship.

"That didn't upset you?"

Chanyeol shook his head. "I think I liked him more after he told me. It was attractive that he knew what he wanted. Plus he told me when I would stop being second priority so all I had to do was wait."

Jongin stared at his feet. "It upset the people I was with."

"Then they just weren't the right people," said Chanyeol. He turned around and checked on dinner, turning the stove off. "I don't think Jongin had expected me to stick around for that reason. He'd dated people too who wanted attention he didn't know how to give."

Jongin took a couple bowls from the cupboard and passed them over to Chanyeol for the rice. "You want attention."

Chanyeol laughed. "I do," he said, passing the filled bowls back to Jongin to bring to the table. "But if I felt like the annoying kind of attention seeking, I just went to Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. Then I went back to Jongin and was happy just to sit next to him while he studied."

Jongin was reminded of evenings when he'd stumble into his room and find Chanyeol there, using the space for whatever his new hobby happened to be. They never said anything to each other and Jongin would often lie in bed watching Chanyeol tinker around with a new gadget or assemble some figurine until he fell asleep. He'd asked Chanyeol once why he kept using Jongin's room, but never really got a solid answer. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how often Chanyeol matched the mood Jongin was in. If he was excited, then so was Chanyeol. If he was upset, sometimes Chanyeol simply sat with him and didn't say a word.

They had both grown a lot since they were trainees and even compared to debut. They were so young then and still didn't know a thing about teamwork. For some of them, a chance in the spotlight just meant an opportunity to shine more, to make sure that once the rush of fame disappeared, they'd have found something else to solidify their spot in the industry, that they wouldn't become irrelevant. Early on, that meant he and Chanyeol often butted heads. The pursuit of perfection often left Jongin cranky and critical of everyone around him, especially Chanyeol who he didn't understand how he'd been picked when he was so laid back about everything. His sisters had commented on it too, that Jongin should work on hiding his expressions because sometimes it was obvious on the music shows when he found the louder members' antics annoying.

But then they had roomed together for a couple years after all the scandals and uncertainty of the group's future. It meant some nights where neither of them could sleep so they talked about anything and everything, from the most mundane to the meaning of life. Jongin learned a lot about Chanyeol during those bouts of jet lag and insomnia and the shift between them had been so slow he never even noticed until now.

When he realized how much he missed his own Chanyeol.

"You okay?"

Jongin snapped out of his thoughts to Chanyeol in front of him, a small concerned frown tugging at his lips. He looked over at the table which was fully set. "Yeah," he said, clearing his throat. "Sorry."

Chanyeol's face relaxed into a smile. "Come on, aren't you hungry?"

As Jongin sat down, he thought surely he missed everyone, that Chanyeol was just at the front of his mind because of the other Chanyeol in front of him. But that wasn't true and it was harder and harder to deny each time he looked across the table and found himself wishing for that familiar silent comfort from one specific person he'd come to take for granted.

+

By day five, the worry had started to set in. Jongin just wanted to know what he was supposed to be doing here, what secret mission he was supposed to complete before he got a pass to go home. Even Dumpling was starting to feel bad for him, taking his afternoon naps next to Jongin, sometimes putting his head on Jongin's thigh.

Chanyeol had called in the late afternoon and said his department was going out for drinks after work and to order dinner for himself. He got simple stuff, comfort food, then cut up some melon after to munch on, half of it going to Honey.

It was almost eleven when the door chimed to signal Chanyeol's return. Jongin had dozed off while watching some variety show and startled awake when the door opened and Chanyeol stumbled in. It was clear he was drunk, not completely wasted, but his movements were slow as he toed his shoes off and dropped his work bag on the floor. He smiled at Jongin, cheeks pink, and shuffled forward, shrugging his jacket off along the way. He collapsed on the couch with a groan and Jongin froze up when he cuddled up and hugged Jongin's arm, face pressed into the curve of Jongin's neck.

"Hi, babe. Missed you."

Jongin didn't say anything. He didn't know what he should be saying. It was clear Chanyeol thought Jongin was his husband and part of him thought he should remind Chanyeol that no, he was actually some 25 year old idol who was a bit lost in life.

"How was your day?" Chanyeol said, sighing.

"Good," Jongin forced out, hands clenched in his lap. He could feel every breath of Chanyeol's against his skin. "Nothing new."

Chanyeol hummed. "The department director yelled at me today because a project got delayed and it wasn't my team's fault, but he didn't care. Felt bad and took them out for drinks."

Jongin frowned. "Well. He's a ding dong."

"Thanks, babe," Chanyeol mumbled and Jongin's blood pressure shot up when he felt Chanyeol press a kiss underneath his ear.

"Let's get you into bed," Jongin said, perhaps a little too loudly. Chanyeol winced and Honey shot up in her bed, looking around in confusion. He grabbed Chanyeol's wrists and tried to pull him up, but six foot of near dead weight was impossible to move. "Come on, help me out."

Chanyeol stared at him for a bit longer, then breathed in deep and stood up, twisting his hands so they were holding Jongin's. "Okay. Let's go to bed."

Jongin did his best to ignore Chanyeol's wording and led Chanyeol to his bedroom. He managed to wrangle his hands back and nudged Chanyeol the few steps to the bed, relieved when Chanyeol crawled into it by himself and sprawled onto his back. It was best if Jongin left him like this, but Chanyeol's shirt was all twisted and it would get wrinkled along with his pants if he slept in them. Jongin pressed a hand to his head, conflicted as he stared down at Chanyeol whose eyes were already shut.

When he was fairly certain Chanyeol had fallen asleep, Jongin sucked up his courage and went about stripping Chanyeol of his work clothes. He almost panicked when Chanyeol's trousers caught on his underwear and both were going to come off.

Jongin was actually a bit out of breath by the end, lifting and rearranging Chanyeol's limbs more strenuous than he expected. He sat at the edge of the bed for a bit and touched the side of his neck where he could still feel the brush of Chanyeol's lips. He was distracted enough that he didn't notice the bed shifting until Chanyeol's hand circled around his wrist.

"What are you doing?"

Jongin looked back and Chanyeol was blinking slowly at him. He tugged on Jongin's wrist weakly.

"Get in."

"I'm going to finish watching that show," Jongin started, but Chanyeol pulled harder and dragged him down.

"Stay," Chanyeol said and Jongin went still.

They were on their sides facing each other. For every rod of tension in Jongin, Chanyeol seemed just as relaxed. He kept his hand on Jongin's wrist though had started stroking the inside with his thumb. Jongin stared at the spot underneath Chanyeol's chin, too afraid to look anywhere else. His skin was cold everywhere except where Chanyeol was touching.

Chanyeol moved closer and Jongin tensed up even more. His hand traveled up Jongin's arm and came to a rest on Jongin's face. He handled Jongin like he was made of glass and Jongin certainly felt brittle, each of his breaths stilted and shaky. He stopped breathing entirely when Chanyeol leaned in and kissed him, simple and sweet, but lingering.

When Chanyeol pulled away, his eyes were shining and sad and Jongin realized then that Chanyeol hadn't mistaken him for a second.

"I miss you, Jongin," Chanyeol said, quiet, and Jongin bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying too. He had always hated seeing Chanyeol hurt when he rarely let anything upset him. Right now, Jongin wished probably almost as hard as Chanyeol for things to return to how they should be. Some of it was guilt, but some was just the result of spending the past few days together and in that short time coming to care for him. Because he was still Chanyeol and he took care of Jongin when he didn't have to, in ways which often left Jongin touched.

Jongin didn't know what to say. Anything which came to mind seemed frivolous. Instead he took Chanyeol's hand and held it tight in both of his and kissed the back of his fingers, hoping that communicated enough. Chanyeol squeezed back.

Eventually Chanyeol fell asleep for certain, his breathing evening out and his grip going lax against Jongin's palm. Jongin watched over him for a while then went to get up, but that was the exact moment when Dumpling jumped onto the bed and settled right up against Jongin's chest, head on Jongin's arm.

It wasn't like Jongin couldn't still leave if he really wanted to, but Dumpling's message seemed clear and he wrapped his tail around Chanyeol's wrist like he wanted to make sure Jongin understood.

"Are you a magical cat?" Jongin mumbled, scratching Dumpling behind the ears. "Did you bring me here?"

But Dumpling only yawned, jaw stretching wide open, and promptly fell asleep. It took much longer for sleep to come for Jongin, too many thoughts going through his head, but he succumbed eventually in the early hours of the morning, fingers still linked with Chanyeol's.

+

Jongin woke alone. The sun was streaming in and he squinted at the clock to see it was almost eight. Just then, the door opened and Chanyeol came in, slipping his jacket on.

Chanyeol crouched in front of Jongin and smiled at him, not even looking hungover. Jongin opened his mouth, but no words came out. Chanyeol laughed quietly and patted his arm.

"I won't stay late at the office today. Order whatever you like for dinner. I'll have anything."

Jongin nodded and sat up when Chanyeol stood. "Have a good day," he mumbled, voice scratchy with sleep still and leaned into it slightly when Chanyeol ruffled his messy bedhead.

Dumpling appeared next to him and sat back primly, looking at Jongin, bored. He meowed loudly and Jongin sighed, getting up. It was ridiculous to think the cat had any message for him other than demanding to be fed.

In the afternoon, he took Honey out for her daily walk. He almost got in trouble when he was stopped by someone who knew the real Jongin was a vet and asked why Jongin wasn't in the clinic. He made a quick excuse and escaped back to the apartment.

Kyungsoo was waiting outside the door.

"Oh, hi," Jongin said, tugged forward slightly by Honey who rushed to jump up and paw at Kyungsoo's legs. "Chanyeol's at work still."

Kyungsoo smiled. "I know. I wanted to stop by and chat with you."

Jongin didn't think he had any reason to feel nervous, but he felt it anyway. "Sure, uh. Come in."

Once inside, Jongin refilled the water bowls for both Honey and Dumpling and offered Kyungsoo some in a normal glass. Chanyeol had slight differences from the one he knew, but this Kyungsoo was indistinguishable. He dressed in the same style as the other one and exuded the same calm stillness. Jongin was pretty sure that Kyungsoo back home even had the same shirt this Kyungsoo was wearing.

"How are things?" Kyungsoo said when Jongin sat down. "It's been a week now?"

"Almost, yeah."

Kyungsoo just stared and Jongin squirmed a bit in his seat until Kyungsoo smiled and cleared his throat. "Sorry. I just — see what Chanyeol meant when he said he could tell the difference."

"I'm still surprised you believed him."

"Well," Kyungsoo said, shrugging one shoulder. "There was a moment when I thought the both of you were playing a prank, but neither of you — or, other you — are good at a poker face. And I've known Chanyeol for a long time. He's never looked like that before."

"That serious?"

"That scared."

Jongin stared at his hands in his lap. "I want to go home too. I want him to have his own Jongin back."

"I know. None of this is your fault."

"Chanyeol-hyung said that there must be a reason why I'm here."

"And have you figured it out?"

Jongin's thoughts automatically wandered to the previous night and the heart-wrenching longing he'd seen in Chanyeol's eyes. He desperately wanted to know what the universe wanted to tell him to have made him witness such a thing. It was all he'd been thinking about the entire morning, from the moment Chanyeol left the apartment to when he'd returned and found Kyungsoo waiting. There were a few theories he'd come up with: that this was just an opportunity for him to live a normal live for a bit, that it really was just one big prank by some omniscient being. But, no matter how mundane or outrageous his postulating was, there was one reason he didn't want to think about purely because on some level he knew it was the real one. If he let himself think about it, then it would definitely be true.

But now, in front of Kyungsoo, he somehow felt like he couldn't avoid it anymore.

"I don't know," said Jongin, giving a poor last attempt to deflect anyway.

"You're comfortable with each other," Kyungsoo said, tilting his head a little to try and catch Jongin's eye. "Even though your lives have been upended in a way no one could prepare for. You could have both handled this way worse and no one would've blamed you, but instead you've, I don't know, found a different balance."

"I feel like I'm ruining his life," said Jongin, drawing one leg up and hugging it. "He misses him so much."

"Who do you miss?"

Jongin rested his forehead against his knee and closed his eyes. He didn't want to answer that, but if this Kyungsoo were anything like the one he knew from home, he wouldn't be allowed to run away from the conversation. "It doesn't make any sense," he eventually said, looking at Kyungsoo as if Kyungsoo might suddenly have all the answers. "How do I know if it's even real? How do I know it's not some messed up side effect of what's happened to me?"

"Is there something that makes you think it could be?"

Jongin knew there wasn't anything. The only version of Chanyeol he'd been thinking of this whole week was his own. The only version of Chanyeol he missed was his own. He didn't belong here, could feel it deep in his bones that this was all temporary, and perhaps all which was needed to send him home were the right words.

"Isn't this all a bit dramatic just to—" Jongin said, pressing his lips into a terse line at the end.

"Just to what?"

"Hyung."

Kyungsoo's eyes softened. "You don't have to say the words if you really don't want to."

Jongin rubbed his face. "I don't know what the words even are."

"Who do you miss?" said Kyungsoo again.

Jongin's stomach turned. The name was in his throat, but refused to leave his mouth. He didn't want to do this with Kyungsoo, he realized. He was grateful that Kyungsoo wanted to help, but it wasn't him he was supposed to have this conversation with.

"Sorry," said Jongin, standing suddenly. "Chanyeol-hyung is going to be home soon. I told him I'd order in before that."

The abrupt end to their conversation didn't seem to upset Kyungsoo. He nodded and got up, reaching over to squeeze Jongin's arm. "Tell him I said hi."

After Kyungsoo left, Jongin stood in the entryway for a minute, as if he were lost all over again. Dumpling came out of wherever he was hiding and looped around Jongin's ankles, meowing at him. That brought him out of his thoughts long enough to get a hold of himself and he ventured into the kitchen to rifle through the adverts for all the delivery places in the neighborhood. He wasn't even hungry and didn't think he would be even when Chanyeol got home, so ended up ordering from the chicken place down the block he knew Chanyeol liked.

His timing was good, at least. Chanyeol walked out of the elevator as Jongin finished paying the delivery guy and he held up the box of food with a smile. Chanyeol smiled big.

They ate after Chanyeol changed out of his suit. Or, Chanyeol ate while Jongin picked at the smallest drumstick in the box. It didn't surprise Jongin when his behavior was noticed.

"You okay?" said Chanyeol, wiping grease off his mouth. "Is it not good?"

"I'm just not super hungry right now," Jongin said, pushing the remaining chicken closer to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol crumpled up the napkin and sat up a little straighter. "Do you feel uncomfortable after last night?" he said, his tone gentle. "I wanted to talk to you about that. Well, apologize, really. I'm sorry for doing what I did. I was drunk, but that's not an excuse. It's the worst excuse, probably."

"Hyung, it's okay," Jongin said, pulling his shoulders up. "I stayed. I understood."

"Still," said Chanyeol, looking off to the side. "I shouldn't have. I knew before I even did it that it wouldn't make a difference."

"That's not true," Jongin said, surprising himself. But it was as good a time as any to bring it up. "You changed something for me."

Chanyeol turned his attention back to Jongin, asking him to explain with the confused scrunch of his eyebrows.

"I miss him," Jongin made himself say, quiet, but the words were clear all the same. "My Chanyeol-hyung."

"That sounded like a confession."

Jongin covered his face with both hands briefly, then sighed and shrugged. "Maybe. I guess so."

"You didn't have to tell me."

"Of course I did," said Jongin, spinning the ring on his finger absently. "Kyungsoo-hyung came by earlier, actually. I don't know if he has a sixth sense about this or what, but I think he already knew. But I couldn't tell him. I only wanted you to know."

"Was this just because of last night?" Chanyeol said, propping a fist under his chin.

Jongin shook his head. "It was this whole week. Everything you did reminded me of him. How you and Jongin met reminded me of him and me at the beginning. And I want to tell him too."

Chanyeol smiled. "I think he'll be happy to hear it."

"Maybe. I'm not expecting anything. I just want him to know."

"Trust me," said Chanyeol, getting up to grab two beers from the fridge. He popped open both and set one down in front of Jongin, who was suddenly famished now that the weight of his confession wasn't taking up so much of his focus. "I know how Chanyeols think."

Jongin smiled and clinked his bottle with Chanyeol's before taking a long sip. Fate wasn't something he believed in before this and even now, with how unbelievable it was to be transported into a completely different universe, he still wasn't fully on board. But perhaps serendipity, that was something he could consider.

"Okay, I'll trust you," said Jongin, stealing the drumstick Chanyeol was about to take with a little grin. He felt light and good, a bit anxious about what might come next, but sure in his decision.

After they washed up for bed, Chanyeol stopped Jongin from heading out to the living room.

"Just sleep in here. The couch can't be good for you."

Jongin didn't argue and launched himself onto the bed, curling up with a deep sigh. Chanyeol shook his head and pulled the covers back properly, waiting for Jongin to duck under before he got in too.

"Should I say goodbye now or in the morning?"

"I don't think it's me you'll be talking to tomorrow."

Chanyeol nodded and laid his hand out between them. Jongin stared briefly at it, then placed his own hand on top. "I think I might miss you a little bit, mirror Jongin."

"Mirror?"

"Don't they have Star Trek where you're from?"

"Yeah, but I like Star Wars better."

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. "I spoke too soon. I won't miss you at all."

"Fine. I'll still miss you though."

Chanyeol exaggerated fake annoyance fell away and he smiled, squeezing Jongin's hand. "I'm going to be very excited to tell Jongin my statement about him and I being together in every universe is actually true."

"You don't know that!"

Chanyeol's grin was smug. "You can't prove it's not true."

Jongin sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be old and mature?"

"I'm old and right."

Jongin rolled onto his back and pulled the blanket in to his chin. "I'm going to sleep now so I can leave." He closed his eyes and it became silent and still. Chanyeol was still looking at him, he could feel it, and right when he was about to give in and peek, the bed shifted and Chanyeol found his hand again and held it tight this time.

"Good night, Jongin," said Chanyeol, instead of goodbye.

Jongin's chest went tight for just a second and he squeezed back, sleep suddenly taking him.

+

There were voices when Jongin woke up and he could feel the sun on his face, too bright even with his eyes closed. He rolled away and shoved his head under the pillow, exhausted as if he never slept at all.

The voices were muffled and he couldn't really make out what they were saying, but he didn't care. It was probably Chanyeol on the phone or chatting with a neighbor. If Jongin was needed, Chanyeol could come wake him.

The sun was high in the sky when Jongin blinked his eyes open. It was quiet now and Jongin realized with a groggy startle that this wasn't Chanyeol's room. This was his room. His real room that belonged to him in the world where he was famous and not married. He patted around for his phone and stared at the screen and how it was the exact same Ironman wallpaper he set last week. No photos of him and Chanyeol under any arches, just random photos of his travels and when he went home a couple weeks ago to visit his niece and nephew.

There was a knock on his door and Jongin squinted as it opened.

"Jongin? Are you awake?" Kyungsoo poked his head in. "A few of us have schedules today so we're going to head out in a bit, but someone will be back in the afternoon. Just text one of us if you need something."

Jongin sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking around to triple check he was really back. "Where's Chanyeol-hyung?"

"In the living room. He's waiting for Sehun to finish doing whatever he's doing in the bathroom."

Jongin slid out of bed and looked down at how he was wearing a full set of pajamas. He only ever slept in his underwear. He took in the way Kyungsoo was watching him, his body language a bit more detached than usual. Impersonal. Jongin couldn't help but laugh, amazed still after everything that other Chanyeol's theory might have been right.

"Are you all right?" said Kyungsoo.

Jongin went over and squished Kyungsoo's cheeks between his palms. "I'm great, hyung."

"Jongin?" Kyungsoo said, a hesitant kind of curiosity in his voice, but Jongin was already heading out in search of Chanyeol.

The rest of the dorm was quiet. Jongin grew more nervous as he neared the end of the hall, fearing for a moment this was a dream. But there Chanyeol was, on the couch watching something on his phone. He didn't notice Jongin at first, not until Jongin took a few steps closer.

"Oh, morning," Chanyeol said, sitting up. He took his headphones off. "Did Kyungsoo talk to you?"

Jongin nodded.

"Okay, Sehun and I just have to go in and get some outfits fitted, so we'll probably be back in less than two hours."

Jongin sat down next to Chanyeol and stared at him, picking out all the differences between this Chanyeol and the other. It was easy now to see how much younger he was and how he hadn't developed the steadiness the other, older Chanyeol had found.

"Jongin?" Chanyeol broke their eye contact. "If you're going to try and convince me again about—" He stopped talking when Jongin hugged him suddenly, tensing up. "Uhh?"

Jongin had thought there'd be a lot he'd want to say, to tell Chanyeol about where he'd been this week and ask if the other Jongin had really taken his place. Instead he curled his legs up and hugged Chanyeol's middle and said, "What concept are you guys doing?"

"I don't know," said Chanyeol, slowly. "It's a summer single so — are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Jongin said quietly and his eyes stung a bit, letting himself accept that he was actually home. Chanyeol was real and solid next to him.

Chanyeol eased Jongin back and studied him with a small wrinkle forming over the bridge of his nose. "Jongin?"

"Yeah? That's me."

"No, I mean," said Chanyeol, shaking his head. "I don't know if this is going to sound weird but, are you the real one?"

Jongin smiled. "Hi, hyung."

There was a few seconds of silence and then Chanyeol started laughing and called for Sehun and Kyungsoo. "It's him," he yelled toward the bedrooms and then he was patting Jongin down as if checking that all of him was there. "It's really you? Hold on, I have to quiz you to make sure, right?"

"You can't tell just by looking?"

"No, I'm sure," said Chanyeol right as Sehun and Kyungsoo appeared. Sehun still had a toothbrush in his mouth and a towel around his waist. "But I just want to make sure. Double, triple sure."

"Two weeks ago," said Jongin, still only looking at Chanyeol, "we went out at 1am and sat by the river and talked about what we would've done if we had never debuted."

"Is he back?" Sehun said, impatient, his words awkward around a mouthful of toothpaste.

Chanyeol laughed again, his relief palpable. "Yeah. It's him."

"Thank _god_ ," Sehun said and left.

Kyungsoo looked between Chanyeol and Jongin, unreadable, at least to Jongin. Chanyeol stared back, but Jongin couldn't be bothered to ask what conversation they were having even though it was clearly about him.

He was home. The Chanyeol he had been missing was next to him. There wasn't anything else he needed right now.

+

Baekhyun was, as expected, the most dramatic about Jongin's homecoming. He burst through the front door and nearly tripped kicking his shoes off, stumbling into the apartment and colliding right into Jongin and nearly causing them both to topple over.

"My sweet dongsaeng," he said, his grip steel tight, pulling Jongin down to his chest to aggressively pet his hair.

"Hyung, stop," said Jongin, but did little to actually fight the affection.

Baekhyun did insist on quizzing Jongin extensively, no matter how much Chanyeol said it was actually him.

"How many times have I walked in on you naked?"

Jongin threw his hands up. "At least 20. It's a real problem, hyung! You have to stop."

"Okay, it's the real Jongin," said Baekhyun and clapped Jongin on the shoulder. "It's 26, by the way."

"Wait, you haven't told us where you went," Jongdae said and Jongin went a bit still, staring at the floor. That was a bad move for someone like Jongdae to witness, who absolutely cackled. " _No._ Your dopple was telling the truth? You were married to _Chanyeol?_ "

"Hey," said Chanyeol, but his voice was weak and he looked uncomfortable.

Jongin felt bad, but didn't know what to do. If he laughed it off, it would be insulting to both this Chanyeol and the one who took care of him for the last week. If he didn't, then people might suspect that — well, he wasn't sure what they would suspect and more importantly, why it mattered.

"It was nice," said Jongin with a small smile. "He was nice."

Baekhyun's eyes widened. "Oh my god, did you guys…?"

"Did we what?" said Jongin, frowning.

"You know what?" Chanyeol said, standing up. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Come on, aren't you curious?" Baekhyun called as Chanyeol disappeared down the hall. Jongin was still lost and figured he looked it when Baekhyun patted his cheek. "I'm going to take your cute ignorance as a no."

After that, one by one they disappeared to their own rooms. Kyungsoo was only other one left, heating up a midnight snack in the kitchen. Jongin wandered in there, nervous still — if he were honest — about going to bed.

"Hey," said Kyungsoo when he noticed Jongin hovering. "Everyone finally left you alone?"

Jongin nodded and joined Kyungsoo at the dining table. He let Kyungsoo feed him a bite of the leftovers, then couldn't stand the suspense anymore. "What happened with the other me?"

"I don't know if I'm the one who should be answering that." When Jongin gave him a confused tilt of his head, Kyungsoo added, "I think you probably want to talk to Chanyeol. You were asking for him first thing this morning."

Jongin peered down the hall. Usually this was when Chanyeol was most animated, taking the longest to settle down for the evening, but Jongin could only hear Baekhyun and Sehun messing with each other. Kyungsoo was right, he had wanted to find Chanyeol so badly that morning, but now nerves had built up. He was scared to find out what had happened while he was gone, to find out how Chanyeol had reacted to the other Jongin who would've treated him as his husband before he realized where he really was.

"Did something happen where you went?"

Jongin shrugged, but said softly, "Yeah, sort of."

If Kyungsoo was surprised or shocked, he didn't show it. He simply nodded and finished eating in silence. It was almost one in the morning when they decided to turn in. Kyungsoo disappeared into the bathroom and Jongin headed to his room, an unexpectedly foreign experience though he'd only been gone for a week.

The light was on and Jongin frowned, trying to remember if he had done that. But he opened the door and stopped when he saw Chanyeol sitting on his bed.

"Hyung."

Chanyeol set his phone aside and gave a small smile. "Sorry. I tried going to bed but couldn't sleep."

Jongin closed the door behind him and joined Chanyeol, tucking his hands under his legs. "You wanna talk?"

Chanyeol shrugged then laughed a little. "What a weird thing to talk about."

Jongin pulled his feet up onto the bed and turned to face Chanyeol. "I don't want it to be weird between us though."

"Did you really switch places with that other Jongin?"

"Yeah. I think so. If the one you met said he was married to, um, other you."

"What was he like? The other version of me."

Jongin tapped his fingers against the comforter. "He was like, a more mature version of you."

"Hey."

Jongin laughed. "Not like that. They were older there. He was 32. They've been together for a long time and I think they've already figured out some of the stuff we're still struggling with."

"We?"

Jongin flushed slightly. "Not like that," he said, but considered if this was going to be as good a moment as any to broach the subject. He waved his hand vaguely. "I just meant with life in general."

Chanyeol didn't say anything again, but he kept looking at Jongin as if he had a hundred things to ask.

"He wasn't hyung though," said Jongin, quietly, his words mumbled. "He reminded me of you, but that just made me miss you." Chanyeol opened his mouth, but Jongin plowed on. "I think it would give me a headache to try and figure out why this happened, but I just wanted you to know that. That I missed you and sorry if this makes things weird, but I just — yeah. That's all I wanted to tell you."

Jongin wasn't expecting any particular reaction from Chanyeol, but he did expect _something_. Best case, he'd smile and say that was nice and worst case he'd be disgusted. But right now Chanyeol was unreadable and that made Jongin more anxious than if Chanyeol had just stormed out.

"Is that because he treated you like you were married?"

Jongin frowned. "What?"

"I get it if you did."

"Hyung, that's exactly not what I said."

"Is there something you want me to do with that information?"

Jongin frowned. "No — I. I said I just wanted you to know. I'm not expecting anything." He couldn't tell if this was headed in the worst case direction, but it sort of felt like it and it made his stomach churn. "We don't have to talk about this ever again."

"What if I want to talk about it again?" said Chanyeol, cautious. "What if I want to do something with that information?"

"Okay? Yeah. You're allowed."

Chanyeol nodded and stood, tugging his shirt sleeves over his hands. He lingered there and Jongin was about to ask if there was something else he wanted to say when Chanyeol leaned down and most definitely kissed Jongin's forehead, right at his hairline. It was quick, but long enough to be considered a kiss for sure and left Jongin a bit shell-shocked. 

"Hyung?"

"It's late," said Chanyeol, giving a small smile. "Tomorrow we can talk again? You can hear all about how pushy the other you was about getting us together."

All Jongin could do was nod blankly and watch Chanyeol slip out of his room, but not before giving Jongin a small wave before the door shut with a soft click. Then Jongin just sat there, continuing to stare, until he physically and mentally was too exhausted to try to process what just happened.

The last thing he thought, warm under his own covers, staring up at his own ceiling, was that maybe the other Chanyeol really was right. That in every universe, they somehow crossed paths and would be inextricably linked together. The corniness of it still made him cringe, but he imagined just like his counterpart, he might grow to appreciate it and maybe one day when he was older he'll go to sleep and wake up in another world again, looking at another Chanyeol who hasn't yet figured it out with his Jongin and it'll be his responsibility to make them see the truth.

And maybe it'll feel just like any other day.


End file.
